Avoid the Pitfalls of White Fabric with These Tips
Get Crisp Polished Results When Including White in Your Quilt!
Solid white fabric is a popular choice with many quilt designers. It makes other colors pop and produces crisp contrasts when paired with darker colors.
However, white fabric presents several challenges. Loose threads can show through the top and dark fabric can create shadows along the seams.
Plus, not all white fabrics or even dye lots are the same color of white so you’ll want to use one cut of fabric for the entire quilt. And then there’s that dreaded issue of other colors bleeding into the white in the wash.
These are just a few examples of how white fabric can challenge even experienced quilters. In the following video, Karen Brown from Just Get It Done Quilts covers several ways that white fabric can trip you up and explains how to prevent problems.
We especially appreciate her insights into how white patches can make accuracy more important in some areas of a block and how to make graded seams so the darks don’t create shaddows. It’s an excellent video that any quilter can benefit from.
Click here to watch the video at YouTube if it doesn’t play on your device.
Another possible challenge is that backing fabric can show through the batting and cause white fabric patches to appear dingy or even a color other than white.
Monica Curry experienced this and wrote about it in an informative article. You can see an example and read her other tips for working with whites at the following link.
Loose threads showing through the top can be quite frustrating. However, there’s a simple fix which you can read about in our “How to Remove Stray Threads Under a Quilt Top” article.
Whites and other light colors can easily pick up migrating dye while being washed. Color Catchers can help prevent that but they aren’t 100% foolproof. If your quilt does bleed, you’ll find a great tip for removing dye stains in our “Reverse a Color Bleed with This Easy Tip” article.
